REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE
Ahmad Fawzi, Director a.i. of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing attended by spokespersons of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Organization for Migration, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Secretariat, and the World Food Programme.
UN Secretary-General
Mr. Fawzi said that the Secretary-General had been in Juba, South Sudan, on 25 February before going to Kinshasa, where he had met President Joseph Kabila and had discussed issues related to cooperation between the UN and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as the electoral process. The Secretary-General had called on the President, as well as on the political and civil society representatives whom he had met throughout the day, to engage in an inclusive dialogue. He had also expressed his concern regarding restrictions on freedom of the press, freedom of expression and freedom of peaceful assembly in the DRC. “There is no alternative to dialogue in order to ensure peaceful resolutions and peaceful elections,” he had stressed during a press conference, the transcript of which had been circulated.
Mr. Fawzi said the Secretary-General would be in Geneva on Monday 29 February for the Human Rights Council High-Level Segment. He would address the High-Level Segment at 3 p.m. on Monday. He would also have a press stakeout earlier, as 12.30 p.m. jointly with Daniel Barenboim, the co-founder and conductor of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra; the stakeout would focus only on the designation of the Orchestra as UN Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding. In response to a question about why the Secretary-General was not having a more wide-ranging press conference, Mr. Fawzi said that the Secretary-General had a particularly packed programme on 29 February. He would be expected back in Geneva on 30 March for a ministerial-level meeting on global responsibility-sharing through pathways for admission of Syrian refugees, convened by UNHCR, and twice in April, for the Conference on the prevention of violent extremism on 7 April, and then at the end of April for another event.
Geneva activities
Human Rights Council
Rolando Gomez for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said that the Human Rights Council would open its thirty-first regular session on 29 February at 9 a.m. Room XX at the Palais des Nations. This would likely prove to be the busiest session of the Council since it began meeting nearly ten years ago. The session would last until 24 March. During the opening session on 29 February, opening statements from the President of the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Choi Kyong-lim (Republic of Korea), would be followed by statements from Mogens Lykketoft, President of the UN General Assembly and from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, as well as the host country statement from Didier Burkhalter, Head of the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland. A total of 101 speakers would address the Council throughout the High-Level Segment. A list of speakers was available on the website.
On 29 February at 3 p.m., the Secretary-General would address a high-level panel discussion in Room XX on the issue of human rights mainstreaming and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and Human Rights. The President of the General Assembly and the High Commissioner for Human Rights would also deliver statements at that panel discussion. Among the panellists would be Helen Clark, the UNDP Administrator. The panel would explore what new opportunities the 2030 Agenda could offer to advance human rights globally, and how it could strengthen the UN’s work on conflict prevention.
In response to a question, Mr. Gomez explained that human rights were one of the three main pillars on which the UN was working, along with peace and security, and development. The three pillars supported one another. To reinforce that link, the Human Rights Council had been devoting one session every year to a panel on mainstreaming. The Secretary-General also attached great importance to the notion of sustainable development, with the idea that societies could advance human rights agendas for years to come. The panel would talk about the link between the three pillars and how they could be mutually reinforced in preventing conflicts. The Secretary-General would speak to that and broader issues. The concept paper included all the details. Mr. Fawzi then added that human rights permeated the Global Goals, adopted by all the member States in September 2015.
On 1 March, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m., the Council will hold another panel to mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of both Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This discussion would feature remarks from the High Commissioner and also Sergey Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister. Concept papers for all 11 panel discussions taking place throughout the four-week HRC session were on the website.
Mr. Lavrov would address the High-Level Segment at 12:10 p.m. on 1 March.
The bulletin of informal meetings would be sent out every evening for the following day, along with updates to spell out the agendas for the following days. Meetings would be webcast and statements would be made available on the extranet (please approach Rolando for the password).
Mr. Fawzi said that for the HRC session, print media would enter Room XX through the main door, but would need to go through the X-ray machines. Audio-visual media would enter Room XX through the back door and would also need to go through the X-ray machines. In order to facilitate the security check and the timely access to the room, audio-visual materials would be controlled from Monday 29 February to Wednesday
2 March, from 8 to 8.15 a.m.
Mr. Gomez also assured the press that all efforts would be made to make seats with desk space available for the press throughout the HRC session, especially during the first three days when space was always an issue.
Conference on Disarmament and Committees
Mr. Fawzi said that the Conference on Disarmament (CD) would hold a High Level Segment (HLS) from 29 February to 2 March, in parallel with the three-day HLS held at the Human Right Council. Around twenty dignitaries would speak before the CD during the HLS. In response to a question, Mr. Fawzi said that he would check whether Foreign Ministers of Russia and the DPRK would address the CD on 1 March. The next public meeting of the CD was scheduled for 29 February at 11am. The Conference would then hear statements of dignitaries from Slovakia, at 11.45am (MFA Miroslav Lajcak) and from Netherlands, at noon (MFA Bert Koenders), both to be confirmed. In the afternoon on 29 February, at 3pm, the CD would hear the MFA of Argentina, Susana Malcorra. Public meetings to hear dignitaries from other countries were planned for 1 and 2 March in the morning. Mr. Fawzi later confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov would address the Conference on Disarmament High-Level Segment on 1 March at 11 a.m. We have not received a request from the DPRK.
The CD was currently under the Presidency of Norway (ending on the 20 March). After Nigeria and Norway, the CD would be successively chaired by Pakistan, Peru, Poland and the Republic of Korea.
In response to a request, Mr. Fawzi said that he would approach the CD organizers and ask them for a briefing from an expert for the press.
The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women was reviewing today the report of Tanzania. For the current session ending on 4 March, the Committee would also be reviewing the report of Haiti, postponed to 29 February afternoon and the morning of 1 March. On 29 February from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the Committee would hold (in public) a half-day general discussion on gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction and climate change.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights would achieve on 26 February its review of the report of Kenya, the last report to be reviewed for this session. For the rest of the session, the Committee would meet in private. The session would close on 4 March: the Committee would then issue its concluding observations concerning the three States Parties whose reports had been reviewed during the 57th session, i.e. Namibia, Canada and Kenya.
Press conferences
Mr. Fawzi announced a joint press conference by the United Nations Refugee Agency and the United Nations Children’s Fund on Inter-agency family and child support centres on Europe migration routes, on 26 February at 11:30 a.m. in Room III. The speakers would be Volker Türk, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, UNHCR, and Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Special Coordinator, Refugee and Migrant crisis in Europe.
On 26 February at 2 p.m. in Room III, the World Health Organization would brief the press on the Guillain-Barré Syndrome in the context of Zika virus. The speaker would be Dr Tarun DUA, WHO Expert on Mental & Brain Disorders.
On 26 February at 3 p.m. in Press Room 1, Josep Bosch, Information Officer for the World Trade Organization would talk about the Dispute Settlement Body meeting.
Mr. Fawzi also said that on 26 February, as of 10:30 p.m. in Room III, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, would brief the press after his briefing to the United Nations Security Council. Journalists with audiovisual equipment would be requested to deposit their equipment in Room III between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. for a security check. The press conference would be broadcast live on http://webtv.un.org
Finally, on 29 February the Secretary-General would hold a joint press stakeout with Daniel Barenboim, Co-founder of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and UN Messenger of Peace, at Door 4 at 12:30 p.m., to make an announcement about the designation of the Orchestra as a United Nations Global Advocate for Cultural Understanding.
In response to a question, Mr. Fawzi underscored that the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra was a perfect example of reconciliation and harmony between nations at work, bringing together Israeli, Palestinian and other Arab musicians.
Mr. Jens Laerke, for the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), announced a press briefing on 1 March at 11:30 a.m. in Room III with the Humanitarian Coordinator for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mamadou Diallo, on the situation in the east of the DRC. He would also take questions on the Humanitarian Response Plan launched some weeks previous. The Plan had asked for USD 690 million to provide aid in 2016 to some six million people. A third of the people targeted in this plan were in the eastern provinces of the DRC, internally displaced people, as well as refugees and the host communities where they live.
Syria
In response to a question, Mr. Fawzi said that Syria was the top institutional priority for the United Nations at the moment, and that the Secretary-General had full confidence in his Special Envoy.
In response to another question, Mr. Fawzi said that the co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) had been instrumental in obtaining the cessation of hostilities agreement, that Mr. de Mistura was communicating on this issue mainly with the co-chairs of the ISSG, and that he was in touch with as many parties on the ground as possible, either himself and through his office in Damascus.
In response to a journalist’s question, Mr. Laerke said that besieged areas were areas to which there was no access, with no aid coming in and no people being able to leave.
Those could be larger areas, sub-districts or locations. For example, in the Governorate of Damascus there were a number of besieged locations. Overall, there were eighteen specific besieged locations, typically towns or villages, which are then clustered within sub-districts, in turn clustered within Governorates. The eighteen locations included Foah and Kefraya, as well as Yarmouk camp with Palestinian refugees, which was the latest addition to the list. In Kafra-Batna, which was a sub-district, there were five besieged locations.
In response to a question, Bettina Luescher, for the World Food Programme (WFP), said that there was no timeframe for the next airdrop to Deir ez-Zor, but that it would not be too far away. There would be a long run of airdrops moving forward. Ms. Luescher also said that the airdrop on 24 February had been of 21 tons, dropped off in 21 palets (the size of a mid-size truck) from a high altitude of 7,000 meters, with the strong winds presenting an additional challenge. Four of the palets had landed in or around the drop zone but had been damaged as the parachutes hadn’t opened. Seven had landed in a no-man’s-land and could not be reached, and the remaining palets were still unaccounted for. WFP was working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and another partner on the ground. The high altitude was challenging despite the very experienced crew, which is why airdrops were a last resort. Ms. Luescher said that the WFP was protected by its international mandate and its neutrality, and that the high altitude, as well as coordination with the authorities and everyone one the ground, were also intended to help avoid the plane from being shot down. In response to another question, Ms. Luescher said WFP would conduct trial drops in cooperation with Jordanian authorities.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Ms. Cécile Pouilly, for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the harassment of civil society organizations continued as democratic space was shrinking in the DRC, with six members of the LUCHA movement sentenced to two years in prison by the district Court of Goma on 24 February. On 16 February, six LUCHA activists had been arrested by the ANR (Agence nationale de renseignements) in Goma, in an apparent bid to prevent their participation in and reduce public support for a “ghost town” day organized across the country by opposition parties and civil society organizations. This “ghost town” day had been organized to commemorate the killing of demonstrators by security forces in Kinshasa in 1992.
The six activists had been convicted for incitement to revolt against the authorities. All hearings had taken place within seven days. Violations of fair trial proceedings had been reported, as the activists had not been afforded appropriate time to prepare their defence, and the court had refused to look into evidence submitted by defence lawyers. There were also allegations that the police had fabricated evidence.
In total, some 45 arrests had been carried out by police and intelligence forces during the “ghost town” day in Kinshasa, Goma, Uvira, Lubumbashi, mainly targeting members of the opposition parties and the civil society.
OHCHR was also concerned at the ongoing detention of another LUCHA member, Fred Bauma, and an IT technician, Yves Makwambala. Both had been arrested by the ANR during a youth workshop in Kinshasa on 15 March 2015 and were facing trial for attempt against state security. There had been in their case allegations of arbitrary detention; repeated violations of their rights, including lack of access to legal assistance; cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in detention; and having being forced to sign statements without having read their contents.
South Sudan
Mr. Laerke said that the Secretary-General had announced in Juba on 25 February that the Central Emergency Response Fund had allocated USD 21 million to urgent, life-saving humanitarian action in South Sudan. This money would go to programmes targeting people affected by the conflict which had broken out in December 2013 and had displaced and heavily impacted hundreds of thousands of people. Part of the money would also be dedicated to relocating some of the refugees in the Yida refugee camp in Unity state, to a new camp in Pamir.
Migrants – Mediterranean arrivals
Itayi Viriri, for the International Organization for Migration (IOM), announced that migrant and refugee arrivals in Greece and Italy had exceeded 120,000 in 2016, after having reached the 100,000 milestone earlier in the week of 22 February. In 2015, the same milestone had been reached in the month of June. There was also an increase in migrants dying from asphyxiation because of overcrowding on board. Five bodies of migrants who had died by asphyxiation in the week of 22 February had been brought to Augusta, Italy, by rescuers. Overall, 418 migrants and refugees had lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean.
In response to a question, Mr. Viriri said that updated figures for the month of February would be released and shared in the week of 29 February. A tally of the asphyxiation deaths would be provided. Mr. Viriri added that this phenomenon was specific to boats coming from Libya to Italy and was less prominent in the case of arrivals from Turkey.
Mr. Viriri also said that the people coming to Italy from Libya were predominantly sub-Saharan Africans. The tally that would be released in the week of 29 February would offer a breakdown by nationality. IOM had evacuated thousands of Africans from Libya mostly to Burkina Faso, Gambia and Senegal, who had told of horrific treatment at the hands of militias, and exploitation in terms of employment. For example, young men working in construction had had all their pay taken away by militias during raids, and the crimes had not been investigated. In a few cases, people had been beaten up or abducted with the expectation of ransom to be paid.
In response to another question, Mr. Viriri said that the most common route to Libya was through Niger, from Burkina Faso, Gambia, Senegal, the West African coast. Those who had been evacuated over the past six months to a year were usually new arrivals. Most of them had come to IOM voluntarily, saying that the situation was untenable for them. Among those who had been in Libya for a long time, several tens of thousands had been evacuated.
In terms of the cooperation with the Government, there was a major programme funded by the European Commission to raise awareness of the risks and dangers of migrating, especially with young people. An evaluation report would be produced soon.
Mr. Viriri also said that as part of the Missing Migrants project, IOM was aware of significant numbers of migrants who were dying while crossing the Sahara desert to reach Libya, but the information on the casualties there was insufficient.
In response to another question, Mr. Viriri said that the price paid by Africans to smugglers was usually around USD 600 to 800, compared to up to USD 1,500 for migrants from the Middle East. In terms of discrimination, it had been noted that those who paid more were being allowed to remain on upper decks in safer conditions, while sub-Saharan Africans were being confined to more dangerous quarters below deck.
Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention – Pledging Conference
Juan Carlos Ruan, for the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention Secretariat, said that at the Third Review Conference of the States Parties which had taken place in Maputo, Mozambique, the States Parties made a commitment to ensure that the Convention on Anti-Personnel Mines would be implemented to its full extent as soon as possible, no later than 2025. Mozambique, one of the most mine-affected States, had since then been able to fulfil its mine clearance obligations under the Convention, which had given much impetus to the 2025 mark. Under the Presidency of Chile, a Ministerial Pledging Conference for Mine-Action would be held on 2 March from 3 to 6 p.m. in Room XXV, chaired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile and his counterparts from Canada and Colombia. Participation from more Ministers would be expected. The High Level panel would include International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President, Peter Maurer, United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) Director Michael Møller and special guest Kofi Annan. The 15th Meeting of States Parties would take place in Santiago, Chile.
In response to a journalist’s question about border areas which were still full of landmines, Mr. Ruan answered that the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea did contain antipersonnel mines.
The webcast for this briefing is available here: http://bit.ly/unog260216